DCU Comic Book Reviews

ADVENTURE COMICS #12

Playing Hooky

August 2010

Written by Paul Levitz

Pencils by Kevin Sharpe

Inks by Marlo Alquiza and Marc Deering

Covers by Scott Clark and David Beaty

Synopsis

Clark Kent (aka Superboy) decides to play hooky and visit the future with the Legion of Super Heroes.  He brought a list of things he wanted to do, that he could not in Smallville in his own time.  First, see the big city of Metropolis, since his parents won’t let him beyond the county line.  In the city, the Legion are cleaning up a cruiser that crashed.  The cruiser was to deliver a vaccine on Mars to treat an attack of the Red Plague.  It needs to be delivered fast.  They ask Superboy to deliver the vaccine, which fulfills the second item on his list:  test what his powers can do.  For the first time, he flies into deep space and flies faster than he ever has.  Afterwards, Superboy does the third thing on his list, play a ballgame without holding back his powers.  During the game, he hears trouble at Legion headquarters.  He rushes to save Brainiac 5 and the fire he accidentally started.  Later, the Legion help Superboy with the next item on list:  have fun a party.  During the party, Superboy fulfills the final item on his list:  kiss a girl without his glasses on.  Then, Clark heads back him.  He tells his father that he had a perfect day, although the details he can’t quite remember.  He then joins his parents for dinner and to check off the last item on his list:  be himself.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I have said this before in other reviews, but I think I need to say it here:  I was never that big of a fan of the Legion.  I find it very intimidating to try to understand the massive number of characters and the convoluted history.  The recent Superman story that involved the Legion characters helped in a little way to learn more about them, but it doesn’t quite cover everything.  There is too much to absorb.  So, when I opened this issue, I was a little nervous and uncertain.  I got about halfway through, to the crash scene and gave up.  I even gave serious thought to not reviewing the comic, at all.  I don’t have plans to read the new Legion book, so it didn’t make sense to do read it here.  But when I realized Ray Palmer will be in the backup stories next month, I knew then I was going to continue to do this.  So, I read it again.  And I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it.  It has a silver age feel to the writing, but I think that helps the story.  It has a light tone, an infectious sense of fun and humor, and it tells a good story of Superboy learning to be himself.  It is a good one-and-done story.

The thing that I liked the best about this issue is the sheer fun that Superboy seems to be having.  Here is a kid that is teased in school and is considered to be a wimp, despite the fact that he has abilities that all bullies would love.  So, to see him with peers that have the same abilities, and the ability to enjoy who he is, is a delight to see.  That shines through in this issue.  Superboy seems to be having fun and the Legionnaires with him.  I also liked the fact that Superboy doesn’t win the baseball game and that the Legion’s powers allow them to overcome Clark’s powers.  Granted, Invisible Boy is cheating, but I liked the way Levitz wrote that scene. 

What is it with lists?  First, the other Superboy, Conner, has his own list of things to do, which we saw in earlier issues of this book.  Then, in a comic that came out the same week as this one, Red Robin has his own list of things to do. 

 

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